Parents who take their children to see the Harry Potter films enjoy a fun family night. But unless they dig deeper into the stories, parents miss a great opportunity to explore life's biggest issues with their children.

The American economy is trapped in a vicious cycle. Those who are unemployed can't afford to buy much more than bare necessities, while people who are working are getting skimpier paychecks. This means consumers don't have much purchasing power, which has made companies reluctant to hire more employees or raise the wages of those they have.

Here's a problem of professional ethics right out of today's headlines: If a news organization prohibits its own staff from using certain reporting techniques - say, deception - should it publish information that somebody else gathered using...

On Feb. 11, 1979, Islamic revolutionaries took power in Tehran. On Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden and his al- Qaida terrorists launched their attacks on New York and Washington, killing nearly 3,000 Americans. On Feb. 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak resigned as president of Egypt.

Ronald Reagan, one of America's least-known liberals.
I'm serious. If Reagan were governing today the way he governed back in the day, he would be defaced on tea party placards and dogged by rumors that he was born in Kenya.

The chasm was apparent most recently as the House of Representatives churned relentlessly toward its vote to repeal President Obama's health-care law. The two-day debate, carried out in a marathon series of two-minute speeches, remained civil. But it was clear that civility alone wont lead to consensus.

The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is, of course, both heartbreaking and depressing. It’s been years since our country has been through the trauma of a political assassination attempt, and it’s no wonder that even the suggestion of one puts us on edge and stokes our fears. Nevertheless, the sane and rational approach to such an event is to stop, take a deep breath, listen to the facts — and above all, to condemn violence in the harshest possible terms.

On Dec. 21, the FCC passed new rules written by corporations that will end net neutrality. For the first time in history, the U.S. government approved corporate censorship of the Internet, putting the future of online free speech at risk.

Two years ago, I ran for Congress to make a difference in childrens lives and to create hope and opportunity for all Coloradans. That is why I have introduced H.R. 5480, the Ending Childhood Hunger Challenge Act, which would challenge states to end childhood hunger by 2015.